Bird Friends

June 16th

This morning I heard the usual arguments and chatter of these silly birds that made a nest in the gutter of my neighbor's house. They're the cutest birds with yellow bellies. My husband Alex did some research and we believe they are called "Fly Catchers." 

I was in the garage and could hear them arguing louder than usual, so I told Alex to come out and watch them with me. There were about 6 of the birds flying around frantically and crying out (if birds can do that.) Then Alex noticed why. There was a gigantic raven digging in their nest! The birds were all flying at the raven and pecking it. The raven seemed quite annoyed but the little birds were no match. We saw the raven rip a large chunk of the nest out.

 We decided to intervene somewhat. We went out of the garage and the raven saw us and took off, with the pack of little fly catchers charging angerly after it. The little birds won! However, as we watched for a moment, the wind knocked down a large chunk of the nest. I didn't see any eggs fall out, at least. And mama bird promptly sat down in the nest and hasn't moved since. There's her husband  (I'll assume) in the picture above, keeping guard for her. 

I wonder if the other bird's that helped fight the raven were family members or simply just other bird friends. Either way, it was sweet how they all banded together to defend the nest. I mean, I can't imagine someone trying to steal and EAT my babies! 

I was really upset for a little while after. I've been seeing ravens in the sky being chased by little birds but I haven't seen them trying to steal from a nest until today. 

Nature isn't always peaceful! I'm sure we've all experienced that in some way. But it's real and we can learn from it. Imagine if the bird mom and dad didn't get help from their bird friends/family? I'm sure those eggs would have been gone in no time. Life really is about helping others, and I'm glad I was reminded of that this morning.